Have you ever wondered why people snore? Have you had some bad experiences with a roommate, a family member, or a friend who doesn’t stop snoring at night? Approximately 45% of men and 30% of women snore on a regular basis, so chances are that you know a few people who snore. Let me start by first introducing what snoring actually is.
Snoring is a sound that is produced from vibrating structures in the airways of the nose and throat. When you go to sleep, your muscles relax which cause your airways to close up slightly. When you inhale through the narrow airway, the tissue vibrates and produces a snoring sound. The airways can be the nose, mouth, or the throat. The tonsils, designed to detect and fight infections, are located at the back of the mouth and can swell during an illness. This can causea narrowed airway to breathe which may cause snoring, which is why some people say they start snoring when they are sick. Another cause of snoring can be the soft palate, a flap of tissue that hangs in the back of the mouth, or the uvula, the small extension at the back of the soft palate. Since we usually lie down when we are sleeping, gravity can pull some of these tissues backwards and cause a narrowed air passage, causing a turbulence of airflow and tissue vibration (snoring).
Now that you know what snoring is all about, how would you stop snoring? One easy way is to just sleep on your side. When you are on your side, gravity doesn’t pull your tissues directly backwards into your air passages so that may solve the problem. Another way is to lose weight—excess body weight, especially near the neck puts pressure on the airway, causing it to partially collapse. Avoiding alcohol or sleeping pills may help because consuming them depress the central nervous system and can cause some parts to relax and block air passages. There are also many treatments and mouthpieces that will help with snoring, but that is something that you would talk to a doctor about. I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new today.